Random thoughts unloading zone:

Today is a free day and I'm taking some alone time to walk around Dublin, read, try to take everything in... it's not easy. I still can't believe I'm here, in Ireland. It's so different and yet so much the same. I'm going to try to unload some of it here.

People are very friendly here. It's going to be weird to not hear Irish accents everywhere when I get back to the States. Even though everyone speaks English, they often say things quite differently. Examples- "brilliant" or just "brill" are synonyms for good. Instead of a simple "thank you," people say "thanks a million" or just "thanks a mil." Other little things like "come within" instead of "come inside" and "mind the step" instead of "watch your step." And everyone says cheers. Cheers is a very versatile word. It can mean hello or goodbye or pretty much anything in between. These little difference in the language are very cool.

There is a lot of pride in their country here. And although they have no problem with Americans, they think we're all a bit lazy and selfish. Things are smaller here and when anyone mentions that to someone from Ireland they quickly respond by telling us that we are way to obsessed with the "bigger is better" mentality in America. It is much easier to find healthy food here too. Although there are plenty of McDonalds and Burger Kings around, most everywhere else uses organic foods, no trans fat, not high fructose corn syrup etc. And the portions are smaller here. You pretty much have to go to an American chain to get anything larger than a medium here. They are also way more environmentally concious than we are.

Dublin is a bit more of a tourist trap than I thought it would be. And although there seem to be plenty of tourists around, you can still tell the strain that the recession is having Ireland (they blame us for that, by the way.)

They love their Guinness here. We went to the brewery yesterday and it was interesting. It was kind of like the Coca-Cola museum but for Guinness instead. But the best part was the free pint of Guinness they give you when you get to the top floor! And that the top floor was entirely windows and the view of Dublin was amazing.

We went out to Newgrange the other day and saw the ancient tomb there. It was really cool. We also passed by Slane Castle and went out to Tara Hill which has an amazing view. We finally saw some of the rolling green hills littered with sheep type of countryside that you think of when you think of Ireland. It was so beautiful.

We leave for Belfast tomorrow. I am really excited about that. It's going to be different there. Not as tourist-y for one, but the civil war is still a fresh wound there. There still is a lot of segregation between Catholics and Protestants up north and I'm interested in really seeing some of the stuff we've been learning about here without the sugar-coating they put on all of it here for the tourists.

Okay that's my unloading for now.